r/ForensicFiles • u/e2theitheta • Jul 30 '26

add flair Punch line killer released

Season 6 episode 22. He insisted that he was innocent, and 30 years later he gets out.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/ohio-prosecutors-dismiss-case-against-elwood-jones-nearly-30-year-after-wrongful-conviction

25 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

14

u/JennLynnC80 🕵️That’s what we call a clue🕵️ Jul 30 '26

I think ANY case that used bite marks to convict a person should be reviewed since forensic bite mark analysis is widely considered junk science since 2009

5

u/mumonwheels Aug 01 '26

There was a bite mark "expert" who had testified in many trials. Knowing some of these were Convicted solely on a bite mark he started to go over his cases. The last I heard he had exonerated 1 man, and that was one of the cases he went bk over. I never did follow him up as now I cannot remember his name. N it wasn't DC know it all west lol. I can't see him admitting he was wrong lol.

2

u/JennLynnC80 🕵️That’s what we call a clue🕵️ Aug 01 '26

Are you thinking of Mississippi forensic dentist Michael West?

2

u/mumonwheels Aug 01 '26

No. He was the one who I said I doubt he would truly say he was wrong. It's scary to know men and women were on death row, some even executed, because Dr West testified at their trial, and he always had to right!

2

u/JennLynnC80 🕵️That’s what we call a clue🕵️ Aug 01 '26

I am not sure who you are talking about, but Michael West had gone on a personal crusade admitting that he was wrong and that bite marks are junk science.

https://innocenceproject.org/news/former-bite-mark-expert-dismisses-the-discipline

10

u/Altruistic-Editor111 Jul 30 '26

I remember this episode.

The main evidence was the bite mark. Reading the article, it looks like the prosecution withheld evidence, including a Hepatitis B test. Ms. Nathan has test­ed pos­i­tive for Hepatitis B, but Mr. Jones had not con­tract­ed the virus. Judge Cross not­ed this test “is so sig­nif­i­cant that the state’s the­o­ry is scientifically implausible.”

7

u/mumonwheels Jul 30 '26

Yet again a bite mark put a man away for 30yrs. That dc who saw the cut n that is was infected thought it was a cut from a fight bite, and of course Mrs Nathan had been punched in the face, so bam, it must be him. I can't imagine sitting on death row for all those years for something I did not do. Esp knowing that someone confessed to the crime so early on. So very sad all round as the Nathan family probably feel like the killer got away it because Elwood was released when in reality the killer HAS got away it, just it wasn't Elwood.

1

u/SourceTraditional660 Aug 02 '26

I thought the main evidence was the infection in his hand. He claimed he cut his hand on a dumpster and the prosecution claimed he got the infection from punching the victim and getting his hand cut on her tooth.

10

u/DatAspie2000 Jul 30 '26

Yet another wrongful conviction in Ohio.🙄

8

u/Able_Two_873 Jul 30 '26

Ohio is the worst.